Dear Parents and Families,

Gong xi fa cai!  I want to wish all of you luck in the Year of the Dog.  Friday was a festive day of celebration and special dress for many of our students at Forest Park.  While I do miss our past Lunar New Year celebrations, I am looking forward to a flavor of New Year's celebrations at our upcomingInternational Festival on March 9th.  It promises to be a fabulous celebration of our diversity at Forest Park.

This week was an exciting one.   OBOB had it culminating event on Wednesday when students in grades 3rd - 5th had their knowledge of books and authors tested against their peers.  We are looking forward to a whole school finale on Friday 2/23 when our final two teams compete to represent FPE at Regionals.  I want to give a big shout out to our fabulous OBOB leadership team: Tricia Dowling, Laura Axon, Pat Greene and Courtney Qualls and all the parent volunteers who made OBOB a fun learning experience for our kids.  Our goal in OBOB is to celebrate reading, finding new authors and genres that are recognized in high quality literature; I think we met that goal.  How fitting that our OBOB competitions were timed on the day we celebrate friendships.  It made Valentine's Day all the more fun.  See the note below from Pat and Courtney. 

The tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida is a devastating reminder of the importance of school safety.  If you haven’t yet, please read the message sent Thursday from our Security Services Director, George Weatheroy .  It speaks to the ways we ensure safe learning environments throughout Portland Public Schools.  

Knowing that some students struggle with mental health, issues related to trauma, and ways to manage anger reminds me that relationships are the most important tool we have in keeping our school safe.  Our relationships begin simply with knowing a person’s name, and continue on in all the things we know about an individual based on shared feelings and experiences.  Teaching is all about those elements, and to that end we are the most important players in the safety of Forest Park Elementary.  I'd like to take a moment and talk about the ways we keep FPE safe so that our families know we work together for community safety.

Portland Fire and Rescue attended our monthly FPE Safety Committee meeting.  We heard from Station #27’s (Skyline) finest about the ways they plan for emergency response.  In particular, they took pictures of our campus, corridors, hallways and stairwells as well as heard about our response if an active shooter were on campus or within our school building.  Here are some pieces of feedback I want you to know about:

We practice three kinds of safety drills outside of Fire and Earthquake.  They are:

1. Lockout: Secure the perimeter.  Students – Return, remain inside school building. Business as usual inside the classroom.  Teachers – Bring everyone indoors. Ensure exterior doors are locked. Increase situational awareness.  Take attendance.
2. Lockdown: Locks, lights, out of sight. Students – Move. Stay out of sight. Maintain silence. Teachers – Move to classroom. Lock doors. Cover windows, lights out. Stay out of sight. Maintain silence. Wait for first responders. Take attendance.
3. Team Response: Activate school emergency team. Students – Return to classrooms. Teachers – Return to classrooms. Take attendance. Increase situational awareness. Business as usual inside classroom.

Please keep in mind the following security routines we practice everyday:

• All visitors need to wear a visit badge.  Portable classrooms must make sure adults who come to the door have signed in with the office before knocking on the door. 
• All portable doors are locked.  
• If you see someone not wearing a visitor badge or PPS ID please take a moment and introduce yourself to that person and guide them to the office for assistance.
• The purpose of our monthly drills is to ensure automaticity when an emergency occurs.  The more we think and practice our response, the better prepared we’ll be in responding to an emergency situation.  This is true for adults and students.

If you have any questions regarding school safety, please contact me, lnewlyn@pps.net

Speaking of relationships and school support, I'd like to close with a reminder that our annual FPE Auction is this weekend at The Nines.  If you haven't yet purchased your tix, or would like to buy a Golden Ticket, please use this link today!  Below is just a sample of the great classroom art ready to hang on your wall of choice, available during the live auction Saturday night, 2/24/18.  

Read on below from our FPE parent partners for more great  information on upcoming events and school information.

Warmly,

Lisa Newlyn, Principal